Wright, Richard - Stephen K. George (essay date fall 1997)
Stephen K. George (essay date fall 1997)
SOURCE: George, Stephen K. “The Horror of Bigger Thomas: The Perception of Form without Face in Richard Wright's Native Son.” African-American Review 31, no. 3 (fall 1997): 497-504.
[In the following essay, George explores Bigger Thomas's inability to interact and make connections with others by applying the ethical philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas.]
Richard Wright's depiction of Bigger Thomas, a young African American whose social environment moves him to murder and rape, is meant to be both sympathetic and shocking. We, as readers, are to feel compassion for Bigger as he is caught up in economic and racial forces he can neither comprehend nor control, but we are also to be horrified at his retaliatory answer: the gaining of freedom and identity through brutally unfeeling acts of violence. At once we are both compelled and repelled by Bigger; he is both a lonely individual robbed of...
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